


Batdad Contingency Plan

by CloakedSparrow



Series: Collected Bat-Family Stories [4]
Category: Bat Family (DCU), Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Adopted Children, Batdad, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, No Romance, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-28
Updated: 2017-05-28
Packaged: 2018-11-05 18:33:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11019141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CloakedSparrow/pseuds/CloakedSparrow
Summary: When Bruce first decided to not only take Dick in, but allow the boy to be Robin, he knew he might need a contingency plan should his son ever be injured in such a way that questions arose. Not necessarily about them being secret vigilantes, but about how the child keeps getting injured or showing early signs of sleep deprivation. He fully intends to keep Dick safe, but no matter what happens, no one is taking his son from him.





	Batdad Contingency Plan

Bruce fully intends to keep Dick safe when he allows the boy to become Robin, but he knows that he can't prevent his son from ever being injured on the job. Should Dick’s teachers or anyone ever decide that all the small injuries and signs of exhaustion on the kid warrant calling child services, Bruce has a contingency plan. It has several phases to go through. He starts simple and should one not work, he moves onto the next phase. 

No one is taking his adopted son from him but he’d rather not leave Gotham or have anyone looking too deeply into their lives.

He starts by keeping a journal of all of Dick’s injuries and coming up with plausible, acceptable explanations for them.

If asked about a fresh wound or old injury, he responds with either his philanthropist charm, detective cleverness or vigilante threatening stare, depending on how he reads the child service worker who shows up.

“When Richard was nine, he missed X days of school and returned with a broken rib and collapsed lung. No one seems to be sure of what happened.”

“We were on vacation. I was teaching him to ski. He crashed into a tree. Scared me half to death.”

“There’s a round scar over his ribs, as though a cylindrical object penetrated the area. Can you explain that?”

“Most tree branches are cylindrical, you see.”

If he can't talk his way out of it, he goes for bribery. Not the sleazy, obvious, hundred-dollar-handshake type of bribery. He donates to charities and organizations that mean something to the case worker (or their superior). Mother suffering from MS? Guess who just built a treatment/diagnoses center and can pull some string to get her in? Husband has diabetes? Guess who just donated a crap-ton of money toward diabetes research and can hook you up with the best doctor in the state? Would this guy hurt his kid? Of course not. Even if they’re not sure, they have to ask themselves which is more important, this kid they don’t even know who seems happy as hell all the time, or their parent/sibling/spouse/significant other/friend?

(He’s not above the sleazy sort of bribery if it comes down to that, though.)

Finally, he has a fail safe. As soon as Child Services contacts him (which always occurs days if not weeks before the initial visit), Bruce has a jet on standby and Alfred has everything they’ll need at the ready. If all else fails, Bruce, Dick and Alfred will be in Thailand or France or some place by the time the paperwork is filed. From there, lawyers will take over until its safe to return.

If all else fails, Batman’s Christmas card list will find something on the worker and Bruce isn’t above blackmail or using his friend’s reputations to his advantage. Not when it comes to this.

Fortunately, he’s never had to put the full plan into effect. Bruce is so rich and powerful and Dick is usually so bright-eyed and bushy-tailed that no one ever really questions them on anything.


End file.
